Device for opening or closing swinging gates.



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UNITED PATENT omer.

GEORGE B. MORT'ON; or MEMPHIs'TENNEssE;

DEVICE FOR OPENING OR CLOSING swINGING GATEs.

SPEGIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 629,200, dated July 18, 1899. Application me@ Jury 11,1398. semina. 685,549. (Natalia.) ,Y

To @ZZ wtcm't it 11m/y con/cerrar Be it known that I, GEORGE B. MORTON, a citizen of the United States, residing at Memphis, in the county of Shelby and State of Tennessee, have invented a new and useful Device for the Opening or Closing Automatic` ally of Swinging Gates, of which the following is a specification. .I

My invention relates to improvements in devices for opening and closing gates in which levers acted upon by the wheels of vehicles by means of proper connection 'with the gate operate to loose the latch and then open the gate and after the passage of the vehicle through the gate close' the vsame and fasten the latch and the objects of my improvement are, iirst, to provide m cans for the opening and I with a beveled under side, by which the latch closing of swinging gates by the impact'of the moving wheels of vehicles; second,'to`adord a device that may be adapted to any swinging gate, and, third, to provide for the con,- struction of same of suchsimplicity in character and of such cheap material that it will lie within the power and means V"oii" every one having such gates to provide themselves therewith. I attain these objects by the mechanism illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure l is a top view of a hinged gate with the usually 'accompanying posts, together with the entire operating mechanism. Fig.

2 is an 'elevation of the gate and postswith,

the latch and its operating devices. Fig. 3 is a perspective view of the latch-lifting device. Fig. 4 is an elevation of the latch-post from the side next to the gate, showing the catch is caught and held when the gate is closed.

Similar letters refer to similar parts throughout the several views. y

For convenience post B in Fig. l, to which the gate is hinged, will be referred to as the surface as the under side of the hub of the front wheel of an ordinaryvehicle,upon which are pivoted securely two levers of sufficient strength to operate an ordinary gate. These posts are seteither in line with the hinge-post or a little farther away from the road andare i only so far from the gate will permit the 'necessary forward movement of the team while the Wheel in motion is carrying the operating-levers the distance required 'for openl ing the gate.

E is a post of the same dimensions as D D', set in the same way at a point obliquely away from the hinge-post on the side toward which 6o thc gateopen's.

J and K are levers of suitable length and strength, pivoted upon posts D and D' in such a way that the longer portions will be toward the road and reach well across the wheeltracks on that side. While the gate is closed these levers should stand with the long portions of both inclined away from the gate at an angle of about thirty-live degrees with the same.

F is a latch pivoted to a diagonal brace of they gate at a point nearer to the latch-,post

. than the hinge-post, kthe shorter'portion beingA drawn upward by the spiral spring S."

H is a catch rigidly attached to' the side of 75 the latch-post nextto the gate, beveled on the under side, so that when the gate is being closed theV latch readily slides under and isl caught and heldthereby.

I is a device'adapted to lifting the other 8o end ofthe latch, so as to lower and 'disengage from the catch the end of it held thereby. The latch-lifter consists of an arm bearing a wedge set atright angles to it at one end and pivoted at the other to one of the horizontal bars ofthe gate, made of the proper thickness. by a cleat attached to it at a proper distance from the hinge-post and at thesame height from the ground as the'armQ of the bent lever-on post E. This arm should .be cut 9o away, as shown in Fig. 3, at its outer end, so that when moved in on e direction the end of the arm, after sufficient movement for the wedge to lift the latchwill be stopped by the rblock X, and when moved in the other-direc- 9 5 same. Y Y

L is a wire of suitable size, connecting the outer end of lever J with the inner portion of roo lever K at points the same distance from wherethe levers are respectively pivoted.

M is a wire connecting the Outer endet lever K with outer end of arm P of bent lever at points equally distant from the-pivots of lits normal position, and after the relative the respective levers. A

N is a wire connecting the outer end of arm Q of the bent lever With latch-lifter I at the point U.

O is a Wire connecting the lever J With the latch-lifter I at V. The point of connection on lever J should be the same distance from the pivot of the lever as the point V is from the pivot of the hinges of the gate.

The full lines in Fig l shoT the gate and the operating mechanism in position While the gate is closed, and the dotted lines show the gate and the mechanism While the gate is open.

The method of operating this device is as follows: Vhen a vehicle approaches the gate from either direction, the gate being closed, the front Wheel strikes and pushes forward lever J or K, as the case may be, until it reaches the position J or K. The wire M draws the outer ends of arms P and Q until they occupy position of dotted lines P and Q. The Wire N, acting on the latch-lifter I, draws the Wedge W under the latch F, lifting up that end and forcing down the other end, disengaging same from the catch II. The latch-lifter being stopped when it strikes X, the continued pulling of Wire N begins to act upon theentire gate G and draws it around to position shown by the dotted lines. The vehicle then passing through the gate, the same Wheel comes into contact with the other of the two levers now occupying the position of the dotted lines, the Wire O first withdrawing the latch-lifterI, permitting the latch to fall into movement of the latch-lifter has been stopped by contact With the block X the Wire draws the gate shut and the latch is caught under the catch H and held fast.

I am aware that levers arranged substantially as those marked J and K have been used in operating automatically opening and closing gates.

What I do claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is`

In combination with the gate G, suspended at one end upon the post B, the swinging arm I, pivotally mounted upon the gate at Y, and having rigidly attached to its free end and at right angles thereto the Wedge-shaped piece IV, adapted to raise the latch F when the arm I is drawn into alinement with the gate; the straight levers J and K and the bent lever Q mounted upon posts D', D and E, respectively; -the Wires L, M, N, and O connecting said levers so as to form a system, operative to raise the latch and open the gate when the lever J or the leverK is acted upon by the Wheel of a vehicle approaching the gate, and operative to close the gate when either of said levers J or K is acted upon by the wheel of a vehicle leaving the gate; the posts D, D', and E of such dimensions and position that levers J and K may be aetuated by the Wheel of any ordinary vehicle, all substantially as set forth.

GEORGE B. MORTON.

lVitesses:

JAMES M. GREEK, ALvA W. PERSON. 

